Montiel-Morel Winner For Penalosa? Pacquiao Says "No"
By Mark Vester
According to The Philippine Star , Gerry Penalosa has been offered the winner of the upcoming bantamweight fight between Fernando Montiel and Eric Morel, scheduled for June 27 on the undercard to Kelly Pavlik-Sergio Mora at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
Last Saturday in Puerto Rico, Penalosa moved up to super bantamweight and took a terrible beating for nine rounds at the hands of WBO champion Juan Manuel Lopez. Penalosa was game and took everything Juanma threw, but it was far too much punishment. Penalosa's trainer, Freddie Roach, stopped the fight before the start of the tenth round. Juanma set CompuBox records with the amount of power punches he managed to land in the fight.
Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao, who considers Penalosa as one of his idols, wants the veteran fighter to retire. He says Penalosa, a former two division champion, has nothing left to prove and should walk away.
"I felt so uneasy as early as the first round. My hands were sweating. Gerry moved well but Juan Manuel was too tall for him, and stronger, too. But I’m happy with his showing. He didn’t go down," Pacquiao told The Star .
"I think he should retire. For me, that’s it because he’s been in boxing for so long (close to 20 years). He should retire because there’s nothing more to prove. I think he would think that way, too. I think that should be it. I think this was his last fight. He himself told me."
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